Lilian_Uchtenhagen

Lilian Uchtenhagen

Lilian Uchtenhagen

Swiss politician and economist (1928–2016)

Lilian Uchtenhagen (7 September 1928 – 6 September 2016) was a Swiss politician and economist. She was one of the ten first women elected to the National Council, the Swiss Parliament's house and first women to be a candidate to the Federal Council, the Government of Switzerland.

Lilian Uchtenhagen

Early life and education

Uchtenhagen was born in 1928 at Olten in the Canton of Solothurn, the daughter of a businessman.[1][2] She studied political science at the University of Basel and at the London School of Economics (LSE) and graduated in 1954 from the University of Basel.[2]

Lilian Uchtenhagen (1971)

Political career

She was elected in to the Municipal Council of Zurich in 1970, from which she resigned in 1974.[3] After women gained the right to vote in national elections in 1971, Uchtenhagen joined the Social Democratic Party (SP),[3] and was one of the first ten women to be elected to the National Council, the Federal Assembly of Switzerland's Lower House.[2][4] She served in the National Council from 29 November 1971 to 24 November 1991.[2][1][3] As the first female candidate in history, she received the nomination from the Social Democratic Party to succeed Willi Ritschard in the Swiss Federal Council in 1983.[3] She lost her bid to Otto Stich also from her party;[5] but supported by the rivaling conservative parties.[3] The TIME magazine article "Ladies Last" states that she lost her bid because of male reluctance to allow for a woman to serve on the council.[1][6]

Professional career

Lilian Uchtenhagen served as the president of Zürich's Coop retail chain from 1981 to 1997, and was president of the charitable organization Swissaid from 1998 to 2003.[2]

Personal life

A resident of the Canton of Zürich and the wife of Ambros Uchtenhagen, a Swiss psychiatrist[7] credited with the initiating of the establishment of the national drug policy.[3] Uchtenhagen died on 6 September 2016, the eve of her 88th birthday.[8][4]

References

  1. [1]
    "Ratsmitglied ansehen". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  2. [2]
    Baertschi, Christian (2013), "Uchtenhagen, Lilian", Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, retrieved 9 September 2016
  3. [3]
    "Schweiz - Erste Bundesratskandidatin: Lilian Uchtenhagen gestorben". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (in German). 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  4. [4]
    "Lilian Uchtenhagen – Ein Vorbild ist gestorben" (in German). 10vor10. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  5. [5]
    Strehle, Res (8 September 2016). "Links und gesellschaftlich liberal – ohne Widerspruch". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  6. [6]
    "Ladies Last", TIME, 6 February 1984.
  7. [7]
    Angst, Jules (1999). "Ambros Uchtenhagen". European Addiction Research. 5 (2): 97–101. doi:10.1159/000018973. ISSN 1022-6877. PMID 10394041.
  8. [8]
    Première femme candidate au Conseil fédéral Lilian Uchtenhagen est morte (in French)
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